toddlers and snacks - How many does your child eat?

[LucyG]

Do you try to stick to two regular snacks, or does it depend from day to day? Here's why I'm asking . . . My DD eats breakfast at the sitter's house around 8:00 (waffle or eggs or oatmeal or yogurt or cereal). They generally have a small snack (banana, string cheese, or cheerios and raisins, etc.) around 9:30, and then snack on Goldfish, animal crackers, etc. when they are outside around 11:00. When I pick her up at 11:45, she nurses and goes straight down for her nap. So, she really doesn't eat lunch. After her nap, she usually has a good snack (yogurt or cheese, fruit, toast), and then is fine til supper. At supper, she sometimes eats a lot, and sometimes eats almost nothing. She nurses again before bed. Oh, and she nurses between 6 and 7:00 in the mornings. Water is her only beverage other than breastmilk. On occasion she asks for cow's milk at supper (when she sees us drinking it), and we give her a few ounces. Since she's still getting plenty of breastmilk, we haven't offered cow's milk regularly.

Does this sound acceptable for a 20-month old? Sometimes I worry that she seems to snack through the day rather than eat three meals + snacks. I've considered asking the sitter to cut out the Goldfish/animal crackers in the late morning, so I can feed her lunch at home. She tends to eat the most in the a.m., and then less and less as the day goes on. She's gained about 6 pounds since her first birthday (16.5 lb. at a year and around 23 lb. now), and that's freaking me out a little (though I know it shouldn't).

Not really sure what I'm asking for here, but moms of toddlers please comment on what you do! Thanks!

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20 months and counting!

[mharling]

The first morning snack and afternoon snack sound good. As you mentioned, I would consider cutting out the second morning snack (since it's not really adding much from a nutritional perspective)and feeding her lunch at home.

And since you asked, here's what we do. Lane has breakfast around 8 or 8:15. Unless he asks, I don't give him a snack in the morning because we eat lunch early (around 11 or 11:15). If he asks, I usually give him some drinkable YoBaby. He has a good snack after his nap (some mixture of toast, veggie booty, fruit, cheese, fruit snacks etc) and has dinner between 5:30 and 6.

You mentioned that the gain of 6 pounds since her first birthday has you a little concerned, but I'm not from which perspective. FWIW, Lane has gained just over 4 pounds since his first birthday.

Mary
Lane - April 2003
Little sister on the way!!! March 2!

[Momof3Labs]

Colin doesn't do an afternoon snack - he's just not interested. But we also eat dinner at 5-5:30, and he goes to bed at 7pm. Colin definitely eats the most before his 1pm nap - sometimes he won't eat dinner at all.

It sounds like the 11am snack could be cut out, and then you can feed her lunch when she gets home, but then she may skip nursing at 11:45.

Why are you concerned about a 6lb weight gain since her birthday? If you look at the growth charts, you'll see that growth slows down considerably in the second year (except Colin, but he's also gone from about 40th percentile for weight to 80th percentile for weight after dropping a lot of percentiles in his first year).

[JElaineB]

I would agree if she isn't eating a great lunch to cut out the 11 am snack. It sounds like that is replacing lunch rather than being a snack. DS usually has breakfast early, a snack around 9:30 to 10, lunch around 11:30 or so, nap, afternoon snack 3 or 4 pm and dinner maybe 5 or 6 pm. Lately he's even wanting a bedtime snack around 7:30. He does graze sometimes especially in the mornings, but I try not to worry about it too much as long as he is eating good foods (usually leftover pancakes from breakfast, fruit or crackers). I'm also wondering why you are concerned about her weight gain? 6 lbs. between 12 and 20 months sounds fine. DS gained about 6.5 lbs. between 12 and 24 months and the doctor was pleased with that.

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[drsweetie]

During the week, Laura (17 months) goes to daycare where she has breakfast at 8:30 plus lunch at 11:30 and an afternoon snack around 2:30. Because she is hungry when she wakes up at 6:30 in the morning, I give her a pre-breakfast snack (a piece of toast, or some yogurt, or some applesauce, plus milk) then. She then gets dinner around 5:30 in the evening.

On weekends, the schedule is almost the same except that her main breakfast is at 6:30 and she has a small snack at 8:30.

I'm not sure whether ours is the ideal schedule, but it seems to work for us.

Ellen

[sadie427]

Sammy's a big eater. He has a big snack/small bkfast with me around 7 (whatever I'm eating + a banana and some dry cereal), then breakfast at daycare at 8:30, then lunch at 11:30, then snack at 2:30 after nap, and then dinner with us at 6:30 or 7. Sometimes I'll give him another snack in the late afternoon if he's getting hungry/cranky before dinner usually an apple. IMO it's not the number of snacks that is the issue, it's snacking constantly and/or away from the table that I'm concerned about, especially on things that aren't all that nutritious. Personally I might try to get the sitter to stop the crackers at 11, and give her more of a small lunch at that time.

[new_mommy25]

Maybe instead of cutting out the goldfish/animal crackers you could have your sitter offer more nutritous finger foods like cubed cheese and raisins. That's Noahs favorite snack. You could stick them in a little tupperware and drop it off with the sitter each morning.

[LucyG]

Thanks, everyone, for your comments! I think her weight gain just shocked me since she only went from 6 lb. at birth to 16.5 at a year. She is a very healthy weight, and still on the small size for her age and stature. I struggled with an eating disorder myself, and I am trying extremely hard not to worry about my child's weight, or to behave in ways that will cause her to develop negative food and eating issues. So far, I feel good about how things are going. Reading Ellyn Satter's book has helped tremendously.

I think I'm going to ask the sitter to either offer her one snack around 10:00 (rather than one at 9:30 and one at 11:00), or ask her to do fruit or cheese at 11:00. That way, she will have a better chance of being hungry for lunch and, if not, she will have at least had something healthy for a snack. The sitter only keeps two other children (both around DD's age), so I don't think making snack adjustments would be a huge upheaval in the daily routine.


http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_emerald_18m.gif[/img][/url]
20 months and counting!

[alkagift]

Lucy,
I usually try to space meals and snacks about 2 hours apart for my 17 month old, if that helps. If I go longer than two and a half hours he gets hungry. For example, in the past I gave him his usual snack at 3:00--dinner is usually 6:00. He got hungry before dinner so I gave him crackers and water to tide him over at 5:00, thinking the crackers wouldn't impact his appetite much, but whoo, he would eat a LOT less for dinner. I have learned to not make him go too long and to make sure the mid-afternoon snacks had fat, a fruit, and a starch. I think the 10:00 time is a great idea if you're feeding her at about noon.

I also have a skinny tall kid and when we weaned completely I made sure to put butter on his veggies or a bit of grated parmesan to compensate for the lower calorie food (as compared to BM)--and he's maintained his percentile really well.

Allison
Mommy to Matthew Clayton, 5/19/03